Jury Selection Starts in Case Against Ex-Dodgers Owner

Written by Bill Hetherman

About 100 prospective jurors in the trial of a San Francisco Giants fan's negligence suit against ex-Dodgers owner Frank McCourt heard widely different accounts from attorneys today about who was responsible for the severe brain injury the former paramedic suffered in a beating outside Dodger Stadium.

Bryan Stow, from Santa Cruz, was attacked by two Dodger fans in a stadium parking lot after the opening-day game on March 31, 2011. A lawsuit was filed on Stow's behalf two months later.

Thomas Girardi, representing Stow, blamed the attack on a lack of security. But Dana Fox, on behalf of McCourt and three Dodger entities he created, said Stow and the two men who attacked him share responsibility for the "tragic, terrible injuries" he suffered.

The lawyers gave prospective jurors a brief summation of the case shortly after they were brought into the Los Angeles Superior Court courtroom where the trial will take place. Stow, in a wheelchair, was in the front row of the courtroom, along with his parents and relatives.

Girardi said one of Stow's assailants, Louie Sanchez, was confrontational with fans while inside the stadium during the game and should have been thrown out by the second inning. But there was no security in the section in which Sanchez and his friend, Marvin Norwood, were seated, Girardi said.

"I mean it's crazy and nobody does anything about it," Girardi said.

When Stow was attacked in the parking lot, security also was absent even though two guards were supposed to be present, Girardi said.

"Somehow they didn't make it," Girardi said.

The attorney insisted that Stow did not attack Sanchez or Norwood, both of whom have pleaded guilty to attacking Stow.

"He never touched anybody," Girardi said.

Girardi said Stow's medical care has reached into the millions of dollars.

"You're not supposed to end up this way going to the game," Girardi said.

Girardi said no person or entity in the current ownership of the Dodgers faces any potential liability.

But Fox said Stow had a blood-alcohol level well above what is considered the legal limit to drive both at the time of the attack and earlier while in the stadium. He also said security at Dodger Stadium that day was the highest in the stadium's history for an Opening Day game.

A Major League Baseball representative who was present at the game said he had never seen such a large security force at any game, Fox said. The security included nearly 200 Los Angeles police officers in the parking lot in addition to a mix of LAPD officers, off-duty lawmen and private security guards in the stadium, Fox said.

Judge Victor Chavez ordered the prospective jurors to fill out a questionnaire meant to gauge their ability to be fair to both sides.

"What is your opinion, if any, of Frank McCourt?" is question No. 34 of the proposed 45-question survey filed by his lawyers in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday.

Jurors also are being asked  about their opinions of the Dodger organization and Dodger Stadium, and whether they have ever had a negative experience at the facility.

The  attorneys additionally want to probe whether jurors have come to any opinion as to whether Stow should be compensated by McCourt or the Dodgers.